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RFP_Expanded Study on Crime and PovertyMasterpiece on the Mississippi Dubuque All-America City 1 2007 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Request for Proposals to Conduct Expanded Study on Crime and Poverty DATE: February 24, 2010 Human Rights Director Kelly Larson recommends City Council approval to issue a Request for Proposal to conduct an expanded study on crime and poverty. This proposal specifically includes recommendations from the Safe Community Task Force that the City Council adopted on February 1, 2010. concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. MCVM:jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director Michael C. Van Milligen Masterpiece on the Mississippi February 22, 2010 Dubuque keitti AllAmedcaClfy 11111 ! 2007 TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director SUBJECT: Request for Proposals to Conduct Expanded Study on Crime and Poverty The purpose of this memorandum is to forward to the City Council a Request for Proposals to conduct an expanded study on crime and poverty. This proposal specifically includes recommendations from the Safe Community Task Force that the City Council adopted on February 1, 2010. Background During the fall of 2009, the Housing and Community Development Department worked with Alta Vista Research to conduct a limited study on crime and Section 8 housing. On December 7, 2009, following a presentation describing the limitations of the study, the City Council allocated $14,000 to conduct an expanded study. Staff then began to develop a Request for Proposals for this expanded study. In the meantime, the Safe Community Task Force, through its Research subcommittee, began investigating both the limitations of the earlier study and the need for additional research to satisfy the goals of the Safe Community Task Force. Ultimately, the Research subcommittee brought forth the following recommendation to the entire Safe Community Task Force, who agreed to forward the recommendation to the City Council. This recommendation, adopted by the City Council on February 1, was to: Conduct an expanded crime study to include: a. Comparisons with like communities; b. Longitudinal study of changes in crime rates; c. Multivariate study of arrest records; d. Comparison of actual crime profile in Dubuque with public perception; e. Contextualizing research findings within current criminology and policy literature; f. Evidence -based recommendations for effective policy and programming related to crime prevention and community safety within the discussion section of the research report. Staff has now combined the recommendations from the Safe Community Task Force with some of the earlier recommendations related to Section 8, to create the attached Request for Proposals. The attached request is for a study that, while it includes some Section 8 components, focuses more broadly on crime and poverty in general. Staff has asked Urban Strategies, who was recently hired to facilitate the Task Force, to review the request. Urban Strategies concurs that this is a well designed RFP that will yield valuable information for the Task Force. Staff also shared the RFP and our anticipated timeline with the research subcommittee of the Task Force, who is anxious to see this study move forward. Budget Implications The City Council has allocated $14,000 for this study. Action Requested The action requested is that you seek City Council approval to release this Request for Proposals. INTRODUCTION In order to implement evidence -based practice in policymaking in Dubuque, the City of Dubuque is seeking proposals from qualified professionals to conduct a study of local crime and the community's perception of crime. BACKGROUND Community members have expressed concerns about crime in Dubuque. Some community members have specifically related their perception of increased crime to Section 8 housing in particular. This study would help clarify the actual state of crime in Dubuque and the characteristics most strongly related to those sorts of crimes that have increased significantly in the past few years, and it would compare these data with the public's perception of the nature of crime and criminals in Dubuque. The findings from the study would help guide policymakers as they decide what preventative programming might effectively prevent crime and what educational programming might provide the most useful information to the citizens of Dubuque. PROJECT SUMMARY /SCOPE OF WORK General Research Questions CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH STUDY • Does the perception of criminal activity and its causes in Dubuque match what is actually happening? • Within categories of crime with significant increases in arrests, what policies or strategies can effectively decrease crime? • If there are cases where there are community perceptions of increased criminal activity but no evidence to support the perception, what policies or strategies can effectively address the concerns? The City is requesting that this study include the following within their standard steps in designing, conducting, and presenting their research: 1. Review of Literature The consultant should conduct a literature review that will allow the researcher to contextualize the study and its findings within the existing body of research on known indicators or trends in crime in midsized communities, perception of crime, and effective prevention and community education efforts. Of specific interest is a review of findings regarding: • The relationship between the mobility of Section 8 housing vouchers and crime displacement • Effective strategies /policies for preventing crime displacement from one community to another • General relationships between Section 8 housing and crime • Effective strategies /policies for preventing crime related to Section 8 housing in general • Contributing factors to perception of increased crime • Effective strategies /policies to alleviate perception of crime • General causes of crime in midsized communities • General effective strategies /policies for preventing crime in midsized communities 2. Quantitative Analysis The quantitative study will consist of three parts. The following suggested paths of study indicate they type of data available to the researchers and the areas the City is interested in studying. In responding to the RFP, the researchers should specifically explain the scope and proposed methodologies. The proposed methodology will be reviewed by the City of Dubuque and the Safe Community Task Force. The researchers also should identify any portion of the request that appears to be incomplete based upon their expertise. • Part One will analyze the Uniform Crime Reports from the City of Dubuque sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigations since 2002, when the Police Department's current computerized data tracking system was implemented. The 2009 data can be obtained from the Dubuque Police Department since it has not been published yet by the FBI. The study will determine if there have been statistically significant increases in particular sorts of crimes. Reports on categories of crime not submitted to the FBI could be obtained through the Dubuque Police Department. A comparison with like -sized communities in Iowa should also be included. • Part Two will analyze the arrest reports of those areas of crime that Part One indicated showed a significant increase in the recent past. This will be a multivariate analysis. This analysis will determine if there are correlations between the sorts of crimes committed and the demographic and other categories on arrest reports and the strength of the relationships that do exist. This analysis needs to include a study of addresses in order to explore geographic relationships and to explore relationships to income status by cross - referencing addresses with known Section 8 housing units. This portion of the study will need to be conducted from approximately 2005 forward, when the Housing Department's current computerized data tracking system was implemented. • Part Three will be a perception study of a randomized sample of the residents of Dubuque. Researchers should collect demographic data about participants to help determine which sorts of persons have certain concerns. The study needs to explore participants' perceptions of increases or decreases in crime, of rates of particular sorts of crimes, and of what is causing crime in Dubuque. Categories in the perception study ought to match official categories of reported crimes and categories on arrest reports. Again, this study should also explore perceptions about the relationship between crime and income and crime and Section 8 housing. • The final analysis will explore how the perceptions gathered in Part Three compare with the findings of Parts One and Two. 3. Discussion and Recommendations The discussion of the findings should be contextualized within current relevant literature. It should: • Clearly identify research findings. • Clearly identify limitations of the study. • Provide policy and program recommendations that follow from the findings. These recommendations should address options for effective crime prevention, possibly including improvement options in programs like Section 8 that might affect crime rates, and options for effective community education about crime. The City is open to suggestions other than those listed in this proposal, which consultants believe would be of value to meeting the City's objective. QUALIFICATIONS A professional consultant experienced in these fields of research will be retained by the City to conduct the above - described work. The selected consultant must have the requisite experience and training and have performed similar work for other clients. INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN PROPOSAL The proposal shall include the following information and shall be organized in the manner specified as follows: 1. Letter of Transmittal Provide a letter of transmittal briefly outlining the consultant's understanding of the work and the consultant's name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. 2. Profile of the Consultant Provide general information about the consultant's experience and expertise in the areas of work as specified. Provide three references of past clients for whom similar projects were completed in the past five years. 3. Proposed Project Schedule The City anticipates that this contract will be awarded in early April 2010 and requires that this study be conducted and the final report issued by no later than June 15, 2010. The City also asks that, to the extent feasible, the Part I and Part II data analysis described above, along with evidence - based policy recommendations, be provided by May 15, 2010. Discuss the consultant's ability to meet this timeline and to integrate this contract into the consultant's present workload. 4. Scope of Services Include a detailed scope of services addressing the project summary/scope of work described above. Describe the consultant's proposed work plan and approach to the project. 5. Fees and Compensation Provide a cost budget for completion of the proposed scope of services with cost breakdowns. Please separate the proposed budget from the other portion of the RFP submittal. (Initial screening will be done without knowledge of the consultant's proposed fee for services.) 6. Certificate of Insurance The selected firm will be required to meet the City's insurance requirements for professional services. 7. Professional Services Agreement Include a copy of the standard contract or professional services agreement the consultant typically uses for similar projects. EVALUATION CRITERIA Proposals will be screened to ensure that they meet the minimum requirements of the proposal format. A review of the qualifying proposals will be conducted by the selection committee. Consultants may be invited to an interview with the selection committee. Evaluation criteria will include the following: • Qualifications and experience of the consultant • Completion of similar projects in communities with characteristics similar to Dubuque • Grasp of the project requirements, understanding of the project scope, and the level of interest demonstrated by the consultant. • Clarity of the proposal and proposed methodology • Approach to communication • Ability to adhere to project timeline SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS One electronic copy of the proposal must be received in the office of the Housing and Community Development Department, attention Department Director: dharris(a�cityofdubuque.org, by 4:00 pm CDT on 2010. Any material that must be mailed must also be received by that time and date: HCD Department, 350 West 6 Street, Suite 312, Dubuque Iowa 52001. Each consultant assumes full responsibility for delivery and deposit of the completed proposal on or before the deadline. The City of Dubuque is not responsible for any Toss or delay with respect to delivery of the proposals. The City of Dubuque is not liable for any cost incurred during the preparation and presentation of proposals by any consultants prior to the execution of an agreement or contract, nor shall the City of Dubuque be liable for any costs incurred by the consultants that are not specified in any contract. All questions and correspondence regarding the RFP should be directed to the HCD Department Director, David Harris, at: (563) 589 -4239; dharris(c�citvofdubuque.orq.